Tony did an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of, Otago graduating in 1989. He then did a PhD in Biochemistry with Prof Iain Lamont as supervisor, studying the role of the PvdD gene in iron chelation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After graduating in 1993 he did postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford from 1994 to 1998 in the genetics of type 1 diabetes under the mentorship of Professor John Todd. On coming back to the UoO in 1998 he switched from studying the genetics of one autoimmune disease (type 1 diabetes) to another rheumatoid arthritis.
In the early 2000s, based on the research need in Aotearoa NZ he switched to the genetics of a very common form of arthritis, gout. In 2020 he transferred the gout program of research to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where the research focus is now on the innate immune system response to monosodium urate crystals, the cause of gout. Tony has ongoing collaborations and kaitiaki of sample repositories in NZ.
